Environmental Policy on invasive species

To combat the spreading invasive species and to prevent the introduction of further species in the Great Lakes, a series of policy's must be engaged to combat the spread of invasive species.  Invasive species such as the zebra mussel were introduced by oceangoing ships dumping ballast water into the Great Lakes.  Perhaps requiring the filtering of ballast water before it is dumped would be an effective compromise to be considered.  Already, some areas have regulations requiring you to clean your boat before moving it from one lake to another.  While this is an issue for ocean-going vessels which tend to be massive, it is a good measure for recreational boaters and fishers, and as such should be implemented as a standard measure.  The greatest threat we have to the Great Lakes, and inland lakes would be Zebra mussels, and these policy's would prevent them from spreading to more inland lakes from careless recreational boaters.

On another front, the Asian Carp threat has led to some more extreme policy's and actions that are more that questionable.  The dumping of fish poison into vast stretches of rivers to kill the fish, and the use of electric fence barriers are good examples of the measures we have taken to slow their advance.  The question we are faced with is if we can justify killing off innocent native fish species to prevent the advance of an invasive species, for the use of fish poison will yield that result.

While there are always options to combat invasive species, the problem is coming up with a policy that can be implemented without destroying many other species, or interfering greatly with human existence.  If it comes down to a choice, humans will always choose themselves first.  All we can do is try to encourage those in power to make more environmentally friendly decisions and take whatever actions we can to better our local ecosystems.  Invasive species are here to stay, there's no defeating them, but with a great deal of work, we may be able to prevent them from wreaking havoc and destroying the delicate balance of the Great Lakes ecosystems.

Sources:
http://www.skuld.com/News/Archive/News-Archive/2003/-Environmental-Pollution-Caused-by-Dumping-Ballast-Water-under-Turkish-Law-and-Practice/

http://environmentreport.org/show.php?showID=632

http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/blog/hindsight/clean-your-boats-minnesotans-get-it-why-doesn-t-epa

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-03-27/news/ct-met-carp-microtoxins-20120327_1_mississippi-river-basin-poison-pill-invasive-species